I wonder... had he been an every-down back (on passing plays), would his stats increase three-fold?

"I'm not the type to let a sleeping giant lie. I wake up the giant, slap him around, make him mad and beat him to the ground. I talk a big game because I carry a big stick." --- All-Pro Stanford Graduate

The loss of Clemons is having a ripple effect on the defense ...... in fact, we saw a preview of what will be after Clemons went down in the Redskins game. Scruggs and Wright became more active pass rushers.

“Bruce Irvin will step up and take a bunch of those snaps,” said Carroll, adding that rookie Greg Scruggs also will be involved in the rotation and possibly strongside linebackers K.J. Wright and Mike Morgan.

I'm oddly excited. This is almost like when Trufant went down.... Next man up was Sherman.

Have some faith in our FO guys, they picked up this guy cause he was damn special. I hate to have expectations for unknown products like this (first start), but I think he's gonna do well. Just a thought.

The loss of Clemons is having a ripple effect on the defense ...... in fact, we saw a preview of what will be after Clemons went down in the Redskins game. Scruggs and Wright became more active pass rushers.

“Bruce Irvin will step up and take a bunch of those snaps,” said Carroll, adding that rookie Greg Scruggs also will be involved in the rotation and possibly strongside linebackers K.J. Wright and Mike Morgan.

The loss of Clemons is having a ripple effect on the defense ...... in fact, we saw a preview of what will be after Clemons went down in the Redskins game. Scruggs and Wright became more active pass rushers.

“Bruce Irvin will step up and take a bunch of those snaps,” said Carroll, adding that rookie Greg Scruggs also will be involved in the rotation and possibly strongside linebackers K.J. Wright and Mike Morgan.

Well, the real interesting thing is, except for a quarters worth of snaps in the Redskins game, the Falcons will have no tape on how the Seahawks Defense Line will now play without Clemons in the lineup. This frees Gus Bradley and Pete Carroll to come up with some interesting changes that the Falcons can't prepare for or predict.

This is a good thing. Bruce gets his shot, and if any of you know anything about life and the trials of people that didn't quite have a silver spoon following them around - you may understand that Bruce is really going to bring a lot of emotion on Sunday. Count on that.

The other side of this that I like a lot, is Scruggs getting his time in the light. Kids can do amazing things, with the pixie dust known as "opportunity".

CallMeADawg wrote:This is a good thing. Bruce gets his shot, and if any of you know anything about life and the trials of people that didn't quite have a silver spoon following them around - you may understand that Bruce is really going to bring a lot of emotion on Sunday. Count on that.

The other side of this that I like a lot, is Scruggs getting his time in the light. Kids can do amazing things, with the pixie dust known as "opportunity".

Quoted for truth. Bruce is a really high energy guy and he's going to be amped up coming in. He's getting his first start....in the playoffs... and remember, he grew up right outside Atlanta, so this is also a homecoming for him.

Let me start by saying that I love what Clemons brings to the table and that I wish him all the best on his recovery. That said I believe that he has not been the force that we need at his position. He is a product of our defensive scheme, just like an average shanahan rusher will get 1k yards, an average Pete Carrol leo will get ten sacks. What we need is an aldon smith type who will get 20.

That is what Bruce was brought on to be, our twenty sack a year leo and Atlanta has no idea what is coming their way. It is time to get your Bruce on Seahawks!

That said I have to admit I am now rooting for GB to take care of business next week. Underrated as Bruce is as a pass rusher I would not wish Gore on him just yet.

Perhaps it's now time to bring in Ray Edwards? He was at HQ a couple weeks back, our FO was kicking the tires....AND he has a chip on his shoulder against Atlanta...is this a possibility? At least for experienced depth?

Irvin doesn't have to stuff the run. He doesn't even have to occupy a blocker much. In Pete's scheme, he has outside contain: RBs can't bounce stuff outside of him. If the RB goes inside, we have Wright there to stuff the run, it's what he's there for. Clemons has made his chops in the run game by shedding blocks in space....it's hard to get hands on a guy in space if your're a TE or big OLman pulling. Clemons manages to "ole!" his guy and get into run plays, while keeping outside contain and chasing down plays from the backside.

Irvin is already adept at chasing down runs from the backside. If he can shed some of those blocks, Atlanta will probably not run to his side as much, and just chuck it. He doesn't have the repetoire of moves that Clemons does, but he's much much faster. If Irvin can "mature" his game a bit, we'll be fine there. We'll miss Clem, but it's not a disaster necessarily.